This can lead to the belief that carbon dioxide is relatively benign, it is not! It was long thought that the greatest threat from carbon dioxide occurred if it displaced the oxygen present to create an atmosphere in which people would suffocate, however, carbon dioxide is toxic and can have a damaging effect on health long before it would have displaced enough oxygen to asphyxiate someone. It is relatively common knowledge that people breathe it out, trees breathe it in and it’s the fizz in beer and soft drinks. Indeed it is possible to burn carbon monoxide in air and convert it to carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide always occurs when there is plenty of oxygen present and the combustion is described as complete. Both gases are bi-products of the combustion process when hydrocarbons are burnt. It can sometimes be confused with carbon monoxide where one atom of carbon is joined to one atom of oxygen, which has the chemical formula CO. This means it has the chemical formula CO₂. Select a graph type, and "compare by" group, and the chosen data will show in the box below.Carbon dioxide is a colourless, odourless gas made up of one carbon atom joined to two oxygen atoms. If effective ways of doing this are developed, this would allow humanity to significantly reduce the atmospheric and oceanic CO 2 levels and thus a prevent a dangerous rise in global temperature. Scientists around the world are currently researching ways of capturing carbon and burying it underground in a process referred to as carbon capture and storage. The interactive graph below shows Megatonnes (1000 Megatonnes = 1 Gigatonne) of carbon dioxide emissions by country (or region depending on personal preference). To convert from gigatons of carbon to gigatons of carbon dioxide, multiply by 44.01/12.01, or 3.664. This is also referred to as anthropogenic CO 2 emission.Ĭarbon dioxide emissions are often measured in Gigatonnes of carbon or carbon dioxide. Currently CO 2 levels in the oceans and atmosphere are on the rise, and this increase can mostly be attributed to human activities. Carbon dioxide, on the other hand, is what most people use when referring to "carbon emissions." It's a greenhouse gas and contributes to climate change because it helps to trap heat inside our atmosphere. In fact, carbon is necessary to all life. Carbon is an element present in all organic material and is not, in itself, a bad thing. Please see Figure 1 and 2 to see how the molecule vibrates to absorb, and re-emit infrared radiation.Ĭarbon is the buzzword when talking about emissions, and because of this it is important to know the difference between carbon and carbon dioxide. This infrared radiation is what causes increased temperatures. Ĭarbon dioxide lets visible light through but its ability to vibrate on a molecular scale causes CO 2 to absorb infrared radiation. It is not easy to calculate how long carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere after emission. CO 2 is used as a benchmark for this scale, hence carbon dioxide has a GWP value of 1. The global warming potential (GWP) scale is a measurement of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere. Chemically, carbon dioxide is one of the two main outputs in any form of combustion (the other being water). These fuels undergo combustion-which produces carbon dioxide as a byproduct. This is mainly due to humans digging carbon (in the form of fossil fuels) out of the ground and releasing it into the atmosphere. However, recently there has been a huge net increase in the levels of atmospheric and oceanic CO 2. The total amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has historically been in balance with the respiration of animals and plants. It is also a greenhouse gas.Ĭarbon dioxide (see Figure 1) is taken out of the atmosphere by photosynthesis in plants to produce energy, and chemical uptake by the ocean (leading to ocean acidification). Ĭarbon dioxide ( CO 2) is a naturally occurring gas, important to the carbon cycle for life and a byproduct of many forms of energy production. Carbon dioxide is able to interact with infrared radiation, leading to an imbalance of radiation entering and leaving the atmosphere.
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